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What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.

English-born Canadian ... resident in Tokyo since mid 1980's. I make a living there as a woodblock printmaker. Website is woodblock.com.

[Recent addition: A 30-minute NHK documentary on my work (in English) can be seen in the press archives section of my website here.]
[Current 'happening': I have a very interesting new project running, with illustrator Jed Henry. Please have a look at Ukiyoe Heroes or Heroes Portraits.]
[Even more current: I have a shop in Tokyo!]

I was the subject of a MetaFilter post many years ago, but unfortunately the discussion got kind of sidetracked and not many MeFites were able to get a good idea of what my work is about. So let's have some fun here on this page ... Scroll down to see my own concept for a 'perfect MetaFilter post' on my work :-)

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Woodblock printmaker Dave Bull's work has been featured in an FPP before - previously, and previouslier, but those posts covered only a tiny sliver of the content of my sites. So this is a double triple, but - trust me on this - the content deserves another try.

The earlier FPPs missed a main point of Dave's work - to make people understand that woodblock prints are not pictures, but objects. Here's what I mean. OK, got your attention? No? Fish don't turn you on? Then how about this? I thought that would do it!

There is nothing more 'high-touch' than prints like these, but unbelievably, they are made with the most 'low-tech' process you could imagine. In the world of traditional crafts, secrecy is the usual rule, but this site has any number of extended examples showing how it's done, including this 15-minute video showing a pair of prints being made - all the way from the drawing bench to the post office. And if you want to watch the action live on his Tokyo workbench, the Woodblock Webcam will let you do just that.

As you might imagine, work like this from a foreigner draws quite a bit of media attention in Japan, and you can choose from dozens of TV programs available to watch in the Woodblock Shimbun section of the site, along with scanned magazine articles, and mp3s of radio interviews, in both Japanese and English. Don't miss the scans of the Young Sunday manga story on Dave's work!

Manga can work the other way around - and Dave uses the format to create tutorials on various aspects of woodblock printmaking. But if it is information on how to make prints that you are searching for, be careful - if you stumble into his Library, which contains the full text and images from dozens of out-of-print books on traditional techniques, you may never come out. But you can take some of them home with you, as he has eBook versions available too, including his new RichMedia eBook 'Your First Print', which uses text, illustrations, audio and video to step you through the process of making one.

Documenting traditional printmaking has always been a major focus of the website, ever since the earliest issues of his newsletter, where a regular column has introduced us to some of the craftsmen working behind the scenes, like this block carver, or the papermaker's 90-year old mother ...

How long has it taken Dave to get to this level? Browse the 'Where I've Been, Where I'm Going' section of the site and follow him on the journey, from past to future. Don't miss the essay by James Michener that is partly responsible for setting off this whole thing, but be warned, other people have reported too, that it can mess with your head, and change your life ... Do you believe that art can change the course of history? It can indeed! After reading the Woodblock Dreams story, people have written to Dave in tears ... And speaking of essays, there are one or two here and here, and believe it or not, one of Dave's essays earned him a seven figure sum one day a few years back ...

Is all this giving you a taste to see the real thing? Well, if Tokyo is just too far away, you can watch one of the video tours of some of his previous exhibitions. Can't get to an exhibition? Modern technology to the rescue! Download the David's Choice ebook, put your room lights out, switch to full screen mode, and sit back while Dave gives you a private session in his print library showing you some of his favourite prints - photographed like you've never seen before! Or watch some closeup HD video from the workbench over on his YouTube channel.

There is nothing controversial about most of the information on this website, but Dave's views on the modern practice of making 'limited editions' isn't something that many modern 'artists' would like you to read. What some artists might like to read though, are Dave's financial statements, all online in recent years, as part of his Business Transparency initiative ... which help answer the question "Is it really possible to make a living in Japan as an independent craftsman?" (Hint: Nobody's getting rich, but ... yes!)

A number of years ago, a 'registered letter' dropped into Dave's mailbox one morning; the return address was that of the Imperial Household Agency. Read about what happened next ...

And it's not all work on this website; there is plenty of play too! Like to take a quiz on traditional techniques, or on reading Utamaro's mind? Or build a teleprompter? Or send an eCard? Maybe you would like to suggest some colour variations for one of his prints? And then sit back and relax while you Watch the Paint Dry before your eyes!

But I forgot the woodblock prints! This FPP is running a tiny bit long though, so there is no room for those here; maybe it's better to say ... [more inside]

[inside]
Here then, are the real links to Dave's print series - each one an independent website:
- 1989 ~ 1998 : 100 Poets
- 1999 ~ 2003 : Surimono Albums
- 2004 : Beauties of Four Seasons
- 2005 : Hanga Treasure Chest
- 2006 : Scroll Project
- 2006 : Small Print Collection
- 2007 ~ 2010 : My Solitudes
- 2010 ~ 2012 : Mystique of the Japanese Print
- current : Arts of Japan
- ongoing : his Mokuhankan print publishing venture, where the new Ukiyoe Heroes and Heroes Portraits are coming to life, or (looking for a nice present for somebody?) his annual Gift Print.

And then, to top it off, if you find that even after all this excitement, you just can't afford to get any of these prints, that's OK, because Dave gives them all away, anyway!